Over a million telephone numbers have been carried to new networks since 2008 in Romania, and 670,000 of them were mobile phone numbers, according to Romania’s communications authority ANCOM.

Statistics show that the majority of those who moved their phone number to another network were mobile phone users with a mobile phone subscription – 75 percent, compared to those using pre-pay cards. Switching to another network can only be done within the same type of category, landline to landlline, and mobile to mobile.

Last year, some 255,000 phone numbers were carried to other networks, close to the number in 2011.

Since October 2008, Cosmote, Vodafone and Orange have welcomed the biggest volume of mobile phone numbers carried to their networks, 223,000, 220,000 and 218,000 respectively. RCS & RDS welcomed 6,800 new clients and Telemobil-Zapp, 719. On the landline segment, 35 operators were on the receiving end, with RCS & RDS leading the pack, with 91,000 new clients, UPC Romania – 84,000, Orange – 66,200, Vodafone – 59,000 and Romtelecom – 13,900.

The biggest number of requests to switch carriers came from Bucharest – 100,000, followed by Cluj – 23,000, Timis, 17,000, Prahova – 16,800 and Galati – 14,000.

Users announced several problems related to switching to new networks, such as incomplete and incorrect information from suppliers about the procedure and delays in making the switch, but the number of complains went down from 200 in 2009, to 112 last year. The timeframe for switching the number to a new carrier is of three days.

editor@romania-insider.com